Pages

13 April 2012

Marathon running

My marathon number came in the mail, but I'm a bit concerned at this point as I hurt my foot during my last big run and have had to rest this week. I've been rowing instead, but it's not the same and I'm getting fat and slow. I can feel it. The race is on the 29th and there are the following narratives that are possibilities:

I don't finish. Something went really wrong and I hurt myself seriously enough that I couldn't walk. This narrative ends with a trip to the hospital and ruminations on failure in light of other successes. I spin this as 'Well, I tried, but the conditions conspired against me. Hey, I'm also writing my PhD thesis at the same time: cut me some slack.'

I finish, full stop. Something went wrong, I hurt my foot and had to walk some/most of the way. I pushed through, however, and got to the end. 'I did it, full stop.' Narrative.

Sub 4:00:00. I met my initial goal for the race and ran faster than I ever have in a run of this length. My foot bothered me some and I had to take it easy, but nothing serious happened and I made it.

Closer to 3:30:00. Things really came together. Foot felt great, and I stuck to it the whole way. I ran fast, not as fast as my fastest runs on the training schedule, but I am incredibly happy to have done this well.

Sub 3:30:00 Everything came together perfectly. Despite hurting myself and getting fat, when it counted, I was able to pull it together and run like I did during training. This is a huge personal success, that despite everything else going on, I was able to do this too.

We'll see which narrative I get to. I'm optimistic, but I also haven't run in six days... We'll try again on Monday.